Man charged in Washington arson

Fire investigators in the city of Washington said there is evidence that someone purposely set a house on fire. The owner of the house said it was done as a vendetta against her.

"It's a big circus," homeowner Rosie Milchak said.

Milchak owns the Washington home on Ewing Street she said was destroyed by 20-year-old Anthony Montgomery.

Montgomery used an accelerant to set the fire, investigators said.

"Whoever did this kicked the door in and threw a flammable liquid in there and set it," Washington Fire Chief Linn Brookman said.

Milchak said it's part of an ongoing saga between her son, his wife and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Montgomery, who was allegedly angry at the Milchak family for trying to keep him off the property.

Montgomery's mother acknowledged his relationship with the married woman, but is sticking by her son's side. She said that as she visited him in handcuffs Tuesday night, he maintained his innocence.

"She's been playing him against her husband for a couple months now, and if anything did happen, I'd say it was more or less her pulling the strings for it," Carrie Montgomery said.

Montgomery's reported girlfriend and her husband were not home when he is accused of setting the fire. It's unclear if he may have known that a third person – the couple's roommate – was upstairs sleeping at the time.

She made it out alive.

"I was hurt and scared knowing that I was in there and he could've killed me," Brenda Cutter said.

Milchak said she is overwhelmed with the impending cleanup of the aftermath of the fire. A cat was killed in the blaze. A dog had to be revived but survived.

Anthony Montgomery is charged with arson.

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